Monday 1 April 2013

L'isola di Capri

March 25:

After a leisurely breakfast at our suite in Sorrento, we headed down to the marina to catch a boat to Capri.  We just made the 1:00pm boat over, which was a bit of a rough ride, since it was another windy day.  But Oliver especially enjoyed the ride over, and pulling into the island, this is what we saw...

sailing into Capri

We hiked a little ways up the hill, before we realized how daunting it would be to hike all the way up... so we went back down to the marina for a relaxing (though costly) lunch.  


Marina Grande, Capri

lunch at the harbour
After lunch, we took the Funicolare straight up the hill to the town of Capri.  This is the more touristy of the two towns on the island (Capri and Anacapri).  We did a tiny bit of window shopping, and purchased a bottle of limoncello (glass bottle in the shape of a cello)-- we struck an easy deal: Oliver would drink the limoncello, and I would keep the bottle.  It came in handy later that afternoon on the chairlift...

Funicolare from Marina Grande up to the town of Capri

view from town of Capri
From the town of Capri, we got on a bus to the other town, Anacapri.  If we'd thought the roads in Sorrento were narrow, these seemed about half that width, clinging precariously to the cliffside.  It was a spectacular view down to the water.  I'd asked the bus driver about the chairlift in Anacapri-- since we'd been told it might not be running that day due to rain and wind earlier.  The bus driver told me it was closed today, though he gestured to us when we got off the bus... we walked over to the chairlift (seggiovia) entrance to find out that it was in fact open and running now, since the weather had just cleared up.  Perfect timing!  The chairlift was the #1 reason I had wanted to come and see Capri...




It was a fun and scenic 13-minute ride to the top of Monte Solaro... I got on the chair in front of Oliver, and behind a large tour group of Australian students (guessing by their accent).  No one was coming down the other way, since the chairlift had just reopened.  I took so many photos that my camera was giving me a dangerously low-battery warning.  We floated over trees, houses, and gardens, and Oliver enjoyed some bread and limoncello along the way...


view of Anacapri

Limoncello time!



We were up in the clouds at the top of Monte Solaro, but the view was still spectacular.  




We took the chairlift back down, and walked around the town of Anacapri a bit, before taking the bus back down to Marina Grande.  The last ferry sailed back to Sorrento at 5:40pm, and as we got to the marina, we could just see the moon starting to rise over the island.  The ride back was much less of a nautical rollercoaster than the ride over, and we got back to Sorrento before sundown.  

map of Anacapri (on ceramic tiles)
moon rising in the distance, over Marina Grande, Capri
Arrivederci, Capri!
Arrivederci a Sorrento, Sant' Agnello, Capri, e Campania... it's been a lovely time!  I wish we could have stayed longer.  But tomorrow we catch the train back to Rome...

moon through the olive trees


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